The global recommerce market is poised to grow as consumers Increasingly He settled on second-hand goods to save cost and, some note, conscious consumption. With the expectation that the global re-trade market will continue growth Boom, C2C markets like Saudi Arabia Som They are looking to attract users in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Founded in Saudi Arabia in 2021, SOM is now looking to expand growth to other countries in the MENA region, starting with the UAE. These plans are driven by a recent $18 million Series A funding.
The round was led by Saudi Arabia’s Jahez Group with participation from New York-based Isometry Capital alongside existing investors Khwarizmi Ventures, Alrajhi Partners and Outliers Venture Capital. This follows $4 million in seed funding in 2021.
Along with expansion, the startup, whose main listings are electronics, is increasing the categories it covers by including products such as cars and collectibles.
“We are expanding into different geographies and are looking at the entire MENA region. We have also started testing new categories to achieve our vision of being a place where you can sell everything from phones to cars.” Fahd Al-Hassanwho co-founded Soum with Badr Al MubarakAnd Fahd Al-Bassam.
“We want to make buying and selling easier and accessible for everyone,” said Al Hassan, who previously worked as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and director of strategy at the Saudi Ministry of Internal Transformation.
Commenting on the round to TechCrunch, Abdulaziz Al-Houti, chief investment officer of Jahez Group, the parent company of Jahez, the Saudi food delivery platform that went public in 2021, said: “Classifieds have exclusively taken over the used goods market and they have done that. Good work, but as we move into the digital age, we need to see something more convenient, frictionless, sustainable, and ensures trust. This is the preposition that som brings to the table.
Soum manages the entire process from listing to delivery. Its delivery arm is supported by third-party logistics partners. To list products, sellers must submit photos of their items for pre-approval. The startup also processes payments and holds them until buyers confirm receipt, as a precaution against fraud.
Al-Hassan said that most goods take three to four days for delivery, and users have 24 hours to initiate returns, when products are unsatisfactory. It has plans to extend the return period to a week or even a month for some products.
The startup makes money through commissions for every product sold. Fees depend on a range of factors including supply and demand.
“The commission ranges between 10 and 20% of the product value. The higher the value of the product, the lower the percentage, and the more frequent the sale, the lower the percentage of its sale. “Therefore, multiple factors are taken into consideration,” Al-Hassan said, adding that SOM gets more than 30,000 listings every month. iPhones and laptops are the best-selling products.
Al-Hassan expects greater growth for the company as local solutions continue to be absorbed, and in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s pursuit of local solutions to eliminate dependence on international markets. Furthermore, the country is said to be in the midst of a technology boom, with data showing a significant rise in the number of e-commerce Business And understanding electronic services.